Harvard’s Dr. Heidi K. Gardner says it’s time to fine-tune performance management, through measures like incentivizing collaboration and long-term customer value.
Measuring a broad set of standards across the organization seems like a fair way to judge employees’ performance year over year. But Dr. Heidi K. Gardner, distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School, says performance management systems often incentivize employees to scramble to hit their numbers and lose sight of the organizations’ bigger objectives. To boost collaboration and long-term customer value, Dr. Gardner shares a four-part scorecard that establishes shared organizational goals while also holding employees accountable for individual results. With Ivan Matviak of Clearwater Analytics, Gardner wrote the HBR article “Performance Management Shouldn’t Kill Collaboration.”